Benefits of Ginger

Ginger is a common ingredient in asian and indian cuisine. However, ginger has been used for its medicinal properties for centuries among many cultures. The root or underground stem (rhizome) of the ginger plant can be consumed fresh, powdered, dried as a spice, in oil form or as juice.

Possible health benefits of ginger:

1) Digestive issues:
The phenolic compounds in ginger are known to help relieve gastrointestinal irritation, stimulate saliva and bile production and suppress gastric contractions and movement of food and fluids through the GI tract.

2) Nausea

• Chewing raw ginger or drinking ginger tea is a common home remedy for nausea during cancer treatment.
• Pregnant women experiencing morning sickness can safely use ginger to relieve nausea and vomiting, often in the form of ginger lozenges or candies.
• During cold weather, drinking ginger tea is good way to keep warm. It is diaphoretic, which means that it promotes sweating, working to warm the body from within. As such, in the wake of a cold, ginger tea is particularly useful.

3) Pain reduction

• A study involving 74 volunteers carried out at the university of georgia found that daily ginger supplementation reduced exercise-induced muscle pain by 25%.
• Ginger has also been found to reduce the symptoms of dysmenorrhea (severe pain during a menstrual cycle). In one study, 83% of women taking ginger capsules reported improvements in pain symptoms compared to 47% of those on placebo.